The Big Trees of California (1907), by Galen Clark

Cones and Seeds

The
cones or fruit of the
tree average about the size
of a hen’s egg. It takes two
years for the seeds to mature
in the cones, which they do
late in the fall, although the
cones do not dry and shrink
so as to shed the seeds until
the third season. The seeds
are of a light golden color,
small and flat, about the size
and shape of a parsnip seed.

The seeds have no wing appendage
like those of the pines,
and firs, only a blank margin
of shell on each side, a little
wider than the vital germ in
the center. There is a small
amount of purple-colored gum
about the seeds in the cone,
which falls out in dust with the
seeds when they drop. This
gum is of the same character
as that which exudes from the
body of the tree where it has
been deeply burned, and is
readily soluble in water.

An analysis of this gum at
the United States Department
of Agriculture, Bureau of
Chemistry gives the following
result:

Per Cent

Moisture at 100°

12.79

Wood Scrap

.81

Tannin

34.63

Nontannin

51.77

Photograph by Sweeney.
CONE’S AND FOLIAGE OF THE BIG TREES.

Professor H. W. Wiley,
Chief of the Bureau, says:
“The material possesses none
of the physical nor chemical
properties of wood gums; it is
optically inactive, non-cohesive
and contains neither glucosides
nor pentosans. The non-tannins
are chiefly protocatechuic
acid with smaller amounts of
catechol, gallic acid, etc. The
tannin is largely a catechol,
tannin, although some gallotannic
acid is present. The,
material is interesting, not only
in containing a large percentage
of tannin, but also because
it contains so little of
the insoluble decomposition
products of catechol tannin.”

The material gave 3.60 per
cent. of ash which contained:

Per Cent

Calcium oxid (Cao)

11.22

Magnesium oxid (Mgo)

8.33

Potassium oxid (K2O)

50.00

Sodium oxid (Na2O)

1.25

Phosphoric acid (P205)

Trace

This gum is not inflammable,
like resinous gums, but
strongly resists the action of
fire. Whether in its fluid
state in the body of the tree it
aids in sustaining the tree’s
vitality against destructive
elements, is not certainly
known, but probably is true.
It undoubtedly gives the red